You Never Know
by Ambie224
Summary: New title! Naruto and Shikamaru are off on an A-ranked mission to escort a princess that is a spoiled brat, and their jonin captin is hiding something. I'm terrible at summaries. PLease R&R, it would mean a lot to me. ;u; T for swears.


Umm… Hello. I guess I'm actually going through with this. This is my second published fan fic and I guess I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters. They are property of Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

Shikamaru Nara sighed as he walked through the streets of Konaha. "Not how I wanted to spend my morning," he mumbled as he heard the sounds of young ninja going off to the academy.

Shikamaru walked a little farther as he recalled that morning:

_He woke up to the sound of a tapping at his window. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. A stream of pale sunshine streamed in. Shikamaru could hear his mother bustling around a few rooms over and his father walking out the door. _

_He staggered to the window, his body not yet fully awake. Shikamaru passed the clothing from the previous day, and remembered he couldn't inspect the window, as he was in his underwear. "Ugg," he mumbled, pulling on his pants, which were laid across the floor. He then again moved towards the window to see none other than Sakura Haruno. _

_ "What do you want Sakura? Why this early?" Shikamaru mumbled. _

_ "Shikamaru, Lady Tsunade wants you to get Naruto and report to her office immediately. She said she has a mission for you," Sakura said._

_ "What? Now?"_

_ "Yes now! Now go get Naruto and report there. And get dressed while you're at it!" Sakura snapped, turning and walking away._

And so here he was, walking towards Naruto Uzumaki's house. When he arrived, Shikamaru went up to Naruto's apartment right away. He rang the doorbell and waited for Naruto to open the door. A few minutes later, a blond head poked out the crack in the door. Sleepy blue eyes started at Shikamaru and drool dripped out of the corner of Naruto's mouth.

"Oh hey, Shikamaru. What are you doing here?" Naruto groggily asked, rubbing his eyes with his fists.

"Naruto, Lady Tsunade has requested our presence in her office. Sakura said that she has a mission for us. So get dressed and let's go," Shikamaru said.

Naruto immediately brightened up. "A mission? What kind? It's been so long since I've seen any action! Give me one minute! I need to get dressed!" With that, Naruto slammed the door shut and Shikamaru could hear rustling behind it.

* * *

Naruto quickly bustled around his small apartment. He threw on his clothes and took a quick swig of milk. A mission! Finally! Naruto couldn't help but wonder what it could be. He looked around and threw open his door again to see Shikamaru standing there, looking bored as always.

"Come on Shikamaru! Let's go!" Naruto said, grabbing Shikamaru's hand and pulling him towards Grandma Tsunade's office. With Naruto leading, they were able to make it there within a matter of minutes. Naruto threw open the office door and marched in. "Don't worry, I'm here!"

"Naruto! Haven't you ever heard of knocking?" Tsunade yelled. She had a vein sticking out of her head in annoyance. Shizune smiled a little and hugged TonTon a little closer.

Naruto then noticed the other person in the room. She had turned when Naruto had burst in, and he could see her clearly. She looked around sixteen, Naruto and Shikamarus' age. She had dark hair pulled into a high ponytail with two shorter locks hanging out over her Leaf Headband. Her brown eyes peaked out from under thick eyelashes. She wore a jonin vest over the standard Konaha chunin and jonin clothes. She had her shuriken holder strapped to the right leg.

"Naruto Uzumaki, I presume?" she asked. "And Shikamaru Nara?"

"You better believe it!" Naruto said, pumping his fist in the air.

"I wish it wasn't. And I wish you lost some of your energy in the past two years," Shikamaru complained behind Naruto.

Grandma Tsunade sat back in her chair. "Alright you two, listen up. This is Aika Toyama. She is of jonin level. She will be leading you two on an A-ranked mission-" Tsunade started to say.

"Alright Grandma! A-ranked?! You're starting to see my skill!" Naruto shouted.

"A-ranked? Then shouldn't Aika have a team of jonin instead of a chunin and genin?" Shikamaru worriedly asked.

"You didn't let me finish," Tsunade said.

"Milady, if I may, let me tell them why I selected them." Aika said.

Naruto cocked his head. This strange girl he'd never met had picked him for this mission?

"Of course," Tsunade said.

Aika nodded. "I selected you two because you have skills that will be useful on our mission. We are escorting a princess around for a while. She has business to take care of in several lands and wants ninja bodyguards in addition to her other ones. We believe she will be the target of several attacks. Shikamaru, you are the best strategist that Konaha has to offer. I believe you will be able to come up with a strategy for us to protect the princess in case of attack. Naruto, you are one of the most exceptionally skilled ninja I have ever seen. I think of this as something you would be able to do, even if you are only a genin," Aika said.

"A princess?" Shikamaru asked.

"Awesome!" Naruto shouted. He could hardly wait. This was going to be awesome!

"Yes, not I want you two to go home and pack for a long trip. I have no exact idea how long we will be out, but it will be a while. Meet me, the princess, and her bodyguards at the front gate in exactly one hour. If you are late," Aika's eyes darkened, making her look terrifying, "I'll make sure you're never late to anything ever again."

Naruto and Shikamaru nodded and Naruto dashed out the door. He couldn't wait!

* * *

Shikamaru lingered outside the door. He wanted to know what exactly was going on.

"Aika, you know why I carefully selected you to be the jonin on this mission, right?" Lady Tsunade asked.

"Of course," Aika said.

"If anything happens with… it… you won't freeze up, will you?" Tsunade asked.

"Of course not. I know exactly what I have to do and what the risks are. I mean, I've been trained to... Shikamaru, why are you still here?" Aika asked.

Shikamaru felt a drop of sweat slid down his cheek. He stepped into the door. "How did you now I was still here?" he asked.

Aika didn't turn around. "Go pack. Now," she said. Shikamaru could almost feel the commanding tone she poured into her voice. "This is a private conversation that doesn't concern you."

"Uh, yeah. But I want to know what you were just talking about," Shikamaru said, "I'm going on the mission too and I think I should know if there is anything I shoul watch for."

Aika turned; her eyes were a terrifying gold instead of the brown color he saw earlier. "Go, now. You don't want to know what we're talking about."

Shikamaru turned and tried to be cool as he walked out and towards his house. But, dozens of questions were filling up his mind. First of all, who the hell was this girl? As he pondered over the question, he noticed he had made it home. Shikamaru walked into his house and went to find his mom.

"Shikamaru? Is that you?" His mother called.

"Yeah, Mom. I'm going on a mission for a while. I'll be back sometime," Shikamaru said, going to his room to pack.

An hour later he was walking toward the main gate. He saw four figures there. One was Aika, and two were some big, burly men Shikamaru decided were the bodyguards the Princess already had. The last figure was the smallest. As Shikamaru go closer, he saw that it was a girl that was no more than fourteen. She had dark brown, almost black, hair that was styled into a mass of braids and curls. She wore a white kimono and she was admiring herself in a hand mirror. Aika was scanning the area near the gate, obviously looking for Shikamaru and Naruto.

Shikamaru got closer to see her hair was pulled back into a neater ponytail and there was a backpack sitting at her feet. "You're on time, Shikamaru," she said, smiling. It looked to Shikamaru that she was completely over what had happened at the Hokage's office.

"Where's Naruto?" Shikamaru asked. He could hear the Princess praising her looks behind him.

Aika shook her head. "He's not here yet. You would think he'd try to be on time knowing that he was going on an A-ranked mission."

Suddenly, an orange and black blob came running towards them. "Hi guys! Sorry I'm late! I was eating at Ichirakus!"

"Naruto! Get over here! We're supposed to be leaving!" Aika shouted.

"Can we go yet?" asked the Princess. Shikamaru turned to see the fourteen year old standing there with her hands on her hips. "I have business to take care of. I knew I shouldn't have stopped for ninjas! I can defend myself! Ninjas are all slow and lazy and LATE!" she shouted.

"Spoiled brat," Aika whispered. Shikamaru nodded in agreement.

"Whatcha' whispering about?" Naruto asked, running up to the jonin and chunin.

"Nothing. Just discussing strategy," Shikamaru answered.

"Hello?! Let's go!" The princess demanded.

The three ninja turned. "Yeah! Let's do this!" Naruto agreed.

"Princess, these are Naruto Uzumaki and Shikamaru Nara. I'm Aika Toyama and we'll be escorting you," Aika said through gritted teeth.

"I'm Princess Yumi. Now let's get going already! People will wonder where I'm at!"

The ninja and the bodyguards sighed as they left. This was going to be a long trip.

* * *

So, yeah. I'm gonna write this. I have a bunch of ideas and somewhat of a plotline…

Shikamaru: LIES!

Naruto: *crying* I'm gonna get kidnapped!

Aika: *facepalm* Can we just get on with the story? And Naruto, don't give anything away!

Shikamaru: *has been blabbering about the plot* Too late…

*sweatdrop* Anyway, hope you enjoy the story as I try (and fail) to make updates every once and a while. Anyone who is still reading this gets a virtual hug and a cookie from me. Please tell me if I can improve on anything or if there is something you want me to throw in there.

Yumi: Shut up already Ambie!

Naruto: *whispers* Kill her off!

*shoves characters away* Enjoy!

~Ambie224


End file.
